Developing A RFID-based Food Traceability System in Korea … · 2017-11-07 · regions in Korea...

International Journal of Control and Automation

Vol. 8, No. 4 (2015), pp. 397-406

http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijca.2015.8.4.36

ISSN: 2005-4297 IJCA

Copyright ⓒ 2015 SERSC

Developing A RFID-based Food Traceability System in Korea

Ginseng Industry: Focused on the Business Process Reengineering

Yoon-Min Hwang1, Junghoon Moon

2* and Sunggoo Yoo

2

1Department of Business and Technology Management, Korea Advanced Institute

of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of

Korea 2Program in Regional Information, Gwanangno 599, Gwanak-gu, Seoul National

University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

[email protected], 2*

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

Despite the many concerns and expectations of academia and the practitioner

community, a radio frequency identification (RFID)–based food traceability system (FTS)

has not yet been successfully developed and implemented in the food industry. Through

closer examination of unsuccessful pilot projects of RFID-based traceability systems for

the Korean ginseng industry, this study proposes business process reengineering points

with RFID and sensor technology and an RFID-based ginseng traceability system

architecture according to the Electronic Product Code (EPC) global framework. This

approach and system architecture will contribute to the successful development and

implementation of an RFID-based FTS for food products. In addition, this study extends

the scope of the theoretical discussion of RFID-based FTSs for health foods and medical

herbs, like ginseng.

Keywords: RFID, Sensor, Food Traceability System, Business Process Reengineering,

Ginseng

1. Introduction

In recent years, consumers have been faced with several incidences of contaminated

food, such as the various outbreaks of mad cow disease. As a consequence, consumer

concerns about food safety issues have risen considerably (Chang et al., 2013). Therefore,

to ensure food safety, tracing food along the entire supply chain has become an important

issue, and each government has issued regulations for this process (Kehagia et al., 2007).

With the advances of information technology (IT), such as radio frequency identification

(RFID), a food traceability system (FTS) has been introduced to reduce uncertainties in

the food purchasing process by providing information about the whole process from the

farm to the table in terms of quality and safety (Choe et al., 2009).

RFID is a wireless automatic identification technology that enables automatic data

capture, product identification, and information interchanges, thereby increasing the

efficiency of product tracking, inventory sorting, and distribution data collection and

analysis along the supply chain (Cheng & Yeh, 2011). Information on a product’s history

can be gathered by attaching an RFID tag to the product, and the RFID-based FTS then

tracks this information in real time. Therefore, the use of RFID-based FTS in the food

industry has received fairly extensive attention from both academic and practitioner

communities. To date, most of the companies that are trying to introduce the RFID-based

FTS are those that sell higher priced food items, such as health food and gourmet food,

because of the high investment costs associated with the tagging process (Chryssochoidis

et al., 2009).

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Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)

398 Copyright ⓒ 2015 SERSC

For example, the Korean ginseng industry is extremely interested in using the RFID-

based FTS to provide product traceability information to their customer, thereby

increasing reliability and safety. In 2011, some business associations in ginseng-growing

regions in Korea undertook government-sponsored pilot projects of an RFID-based

ginseng traceability system. However, these projects did not progress any further, and the

developed pilot system is not being used in the ginseng supply chain today. According to

experts who was in charge of these projects, the main reason that they were unsuccessful

was because of the fact that they were using an RFID-based ginseng traceability system

without business process reengineering (BPR). For instance, the process of mixing

ginseng together from several growers in various regions to efficiently cleanse and steam

the ginseng was the chief reason for the loss of traceability information, such as the

cultivators and growing areas. Since the process was not reengineered, the effectiveness

of the traceability system was lower than expected.

Developing and implementing an RFID system does not just consist of buying

hardware and software; rather, an organization must adopt BPR with an innovative

approach to achieve a high level of synergy (Tzeng, 2008). FTS is implemented across the

entire food supply chain and involves all supply chain actors, such as the growers,

manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and customers. Therefore, when advanced

technology (like RFID) is developed and applied to a traceability system, the established

business process of the entire supply chain and the interdependent processes among the

various actors should be carefully evaluated (Bevilacqua, 2009). However, BPR is often

overlooked when developing an RFID-based FTS across the food supply chain. In the

field of research, only a few studies have explored the development of FTSs that included

BPR.

Therefore, this study proposes an RFID-based ginseng traceability system architecture

that is focused on the BPR of Korea's local ginseng associations as a reference model for

successfully developing an RFID-based FTS. In the paper, a relevant literature review of

RFID-based FTSs and the Korean ginseng industry are presented first. Then, the strategic

points of BPR in the ginseng industry are described and the RFID-based ginseng

traceability system architecture is presented in the Section 3. Finally, conclusions and

future work are discussed in Section 4.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Food Traceability System

An FTS provides all relevant information about the food process ‘from the farm to the

table’ (Choe et al., 2009). All participants in the food chain, including the final

consumers, can extract detailed information on food products from a database via the

Internet (Ruiz-Garcia et al., 2010). Using this system, consumers are able to easily verify

how the food that they purchase is produced, processed, and delivered. Wilson and Clarke

(1998) described a possible mechanism for the design and development of a software

system for the collation, location, and dissemination of traceability data. Jansen-Vullers

(2003) proposed a graph modeling approach to designing information systems that could

trace the flow of goods. Hobbs (2004) identified the role of food traceability systems in

resolving information asymmetry in food markets. Folinas et al., (2006) introduced a

generic architecture of traceability data management as a guideline for all food business

operators, and Bevilacqua et al., (2009) developed a BCR for the supply chain of

vegetable products.

The discussion of RFID technology being applied to traceability systems began in the

early 2000s. Sahin et al., (2002) provided a framework for identifying functionalities of a

traceability system in the context of a global supply chain by simply evaluating the

performance of RFID-based traceability systems. Nagi et al., (2007) performed a case


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)

Copyright ⓒ 2015 SERSC 399

study of an aircraft engineering company in Hong Kong as it developed an RFID-based

traceability system with a focus on critical success factors. Kelepouris et al., (2007)

examined how an RFID can meet the requirements of traceability and outlined both an

information data model and a system architecture of RFID-based traceability. Hsu et al.

(2008) proposed an RFID-enabled traceability system for the live fish supply chain, the

system architecture of which was designed according to the specific requirements of live

fish processing. Abad et al. (2009) evaluated an RFID smart tag developed for real-time

traceability and cold chain monitoring of fresh fish. Most recently, Storøy et al., (2013)

proposed a framework to guide the implementation of traceability in food value chains,

and Parreño-Marchante et al., (2014) presented a novel traceability system architecture

based on an RFID and wireless sensor network (WSN) for the food supply chain.

However, in the field of FTS research, only a few studies have focused on the BRP

perspective, and no studies to date have sought to develop an RFID-based FTS focused on

health food.

Many studies of IT have shown that BRP can drive the effectiveness of IT

implementation in business organizations. Riggins and Mukhopadhyay (1994)

demonstrated that aligning business processes with EDI adoption can lead to better

performance through effective information sharing. Kohli and Sherer (2002) stated that

supply chain actors need to conduct major changes in their business processes to fully

capture the benefits of IT adoption in their supply chain. Wamba et al. (2008) described

BRP points to develop an RFID system in the retail industry, including RFID-based

improvement processes such as shipping, receiving, and put away. They also provided a

guideline for the automatic trigger process and integrated interorganizational activities for

RFID system development and implementation.

2.3. Korea Ginseng Industry

In Asia, particularly Korea and China, ginseng has been one of the most important

items of trade in the health care and medicinal markets. It is currently distributed to 35

countries around the world (Baeg & So, 2013). Ginseng is a plant that belongs to the

Araliaceae family and the genus Panax, and its roots are used for medicinal purposes. Its

botanical classification is the perennial plants of docotyledon, umbelliflorae, and

araliaceae (Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, 2011). Ginseng grows

naturally in East Asia, including the Korean Peninsula and the Northeastern part of

America, both of which are cold, humid, deciduous, and forested areas with low

temperatures in winter and sufficient rainfall in summer, which is ginseng’s growing

season. Two types of ginseng are generally consumed—red ginseng (47.8%) and fresh

ginseng (45%) (MIFAFF, 2012).

Red ginseng is made by heating fresh ginseng with steam and then drying it. It is

categorized as processed food and is normally standardized and packaged with its own

brand. The type of ginseng that is not dried after harvest and is still in its original shape is

called fresh ginseng (Lee et al., 2012). Generally, fresh ginseng is sold by weight in a

basket that is labeled with its place of origin. Korea is the world's largest ginseng

distributor (1,140 million USD) and the second largest ginseng producer (27,480 tons)

(Baeg & So, 2013). All ginseng grown in Korea is Panax ginseng Meyer 1st class.

Currently, fresh ginseng root and a variety of processed products are the best-selling

product in Korea. Local ginseng associations, such as Kum-san, Jin-an, and Gyeong-gi,

play a leading role in monitoring ginseng growth, manufacture, and distribution.

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Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


3. An RFID-Based Ginseng Traceability System

To propose an RFID-based ginseng traceability system with BPR, this study focused

on red ginseng, which is more widely sold than fresh ginseng and has a more complex

business process. In as-is analysis, this study concentrates on the business processes of

local ginseng associations in rural areas who oversee the growth, manufacture, and

distribution of ginseng in Korea. From July to August 2013, interviews of managers and

on-the-spot visits were conducted for the associations who participated in the pilot project

of the RFID-based ginseng traceability system that was supported by the Korean

government in 2011.

3.1. As-Is Analysis

A food traceability system is used to prepare for accidents and abnormal situations; the

system also secures distribution route transparency. It simultaneously provides

information to the consumer and the local competent authorities. Therefore, the system

requires information for all entities from which the food originates, including where it is

processed, packaged, and stocked.

Figure 1. Ginseng Traceability Timeline

A red ginseng traceability system that takes the production and circulation processes

into consideration is based on three phases (Figure 1). Currently, information about the

cultivation of ginseng is monitored inadequately. During the growing stage, farmers use

hand-written daily logs to record physical phenomena, such as luminance, relative

humidity, temperature, and CO2 emission (Figure 2). This is time-consuming and

obviously inefficient. This information is then passively transmitted to the processing and

distribution channel, such as the local ginseng association. The processors manually enter

the traceability information into their information system like Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP). Because the traceability information for the production stage is manually

handled by the farmer and the growing period of ginseng is so long (4 to 6 years), the

traceability information is frequently lost, and the inspection process for all phases (such

as production, processing, and sales) is manually checked and labor-intensive.

Currently, the interdependent process of outbound and inbound information between

the farmer and the processor is concentrated efficiently handle of many inventories in

working areas without carefully transferring the traceability information for each item.

After receiving the red ginseng parcels from the many farmers of various regions, the

processor mixes and stores them together for efficient cleaning and steaming (Figure 2).

This mixing of the inbound ginseng from various regions interrupts the flow of

traceability information in the supply chain. As a result, the consumer does not receive a

product with detailed traceability information about the production phase.


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


Figure 2. As-is Analysis of Red Ginseng Traceability Process

3.2. To-Be System

This study proposes a model for a red ginseng traceability system based upon BPR that

overcomes the obstacles mentioned earlier, such as inefficient monitoring during the

production stage, the loss and mixture of information at the processing phase, and the

inability to provide information to the end user in a prompt manner. To address the

inefficient daily log system, this study adopted a sensor network-based monitoring system.

Figure 3 shows the proposed ginseng planting environment monitoring system based on

the EPC Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The basic system consists of a management

ERP system to manage the ginseng growth environment, a sensor to capture information

related to ginseng growth, and a sensor network to collect this information. The sensors

are used to collect environment-related information on the surface and soil-related factors

when implements the data collection and transmission subsystem. Sync-node and

middleware (gateway) makes it easier to communicate the data through the system. Our

middleware provides a data-processing framework for underlying sensor nodes and a

robust monitoring and management of application logic and event flow. Moreover, a new

type of gateway supports dual wireless access points for WiFi and 6LoWPAN. All the

information collected from the sensor nodes and ERP is automatically uploaded to the

EPC information service (EPCIS) through the gateway.


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


Figure 3. Environmental Monitoring System for Red Ginseng

Immediately after cultivation, all the fresh ginsengs are boxed and tagged with RFID

tag-1 by famers delivered to distributors. Then, the baskets are promptly inspected and

RFID tag-1 is replaced by RFID tag-2 with URI-convertible identification number such as

GTIN, GLN, SSCC, and GRAI. These URI-convertible ids are identifier for trade item

and are deployed to look up product information in a global standardized database such as

EPCIS. Namely, the identification number makes replaced RFID tag-2 connect to the

information collected from environmental monitoring system. A simple reading of RFID

tag-2 provides the past history of production at any time during processing. As shown

below Figure 4, the operation carried out very quickly and efficiently throughout the

RFID readers. The tag is removed prior to packaging phase and the information is

recorded in an EPCIS which is connected with other EPCIS. Another replaceable RFID

tag-3 is attached to the packaging and GTIN code is marked on the surface. By using this

code and the tag, the complete information throughout the entire process including

production, inspection and processing can be retrieved at any time.


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


Figure 4. RFID-based Red Ginseng Traceability System

To avoid loss of information during the processing phase such as cleansing and

steaming, this study redesigned the processing phase as shown below Figure 5. The

processes are separately carried out according to the area of production. Each tagged

basket is arranged in terms of area of its origin and processed independently. Nevertheless,

the reengineering of processing eventually raise the cost of fixed and variable cost of red-

ginseng product.

Figure 5. Reengineering of Mixing Problem in Red Ginseng Processing Phase

This study adopted the EPC global architecture framework to identify, capture, and

share information about the ginseng. This is mainly possible because the framework is

driven by end users, is royalty free, and meets global standards. Figure 6 shows the

technical structure of the traceability system following the EPC guidelines. The network

system manages the dynamic information of entities for individual ginseng products. The

system includes an object naming server (ONS), a discovery service, and EPCIS

(distributed). The ONS enables the discovery of object information on the basis of the

EPC. With the EPC, a matched item is searched for within a database and sent back to the

requester when it is found. The EPCIS network is formed to enable EPC-related data

sharing across the organization and country. The presentation server manages a rich

interface comprised of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The application is designed to help

users easily look up traceability information.


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


Figure 6. Ginseng Traceability System Architecture (EPC Global)

4. Conclusions

The main purpose of this study was to propose an RFID-based ginseng traceability

system model. To increase the effectiveness of RFID-based FTS, this study concentrated

on the development of an RFID-based ginseng traceability system focused on BPR. By

interviewing ginseng farmers and the managers of local ginseng associations, along with

visits to ginseng farms and processing plants, this study was able to identify major

business processes that need to be reengineered for an RFID-based FTS. Then, strategic

points of BPR, like the removal of the mixing problem and the RFID-based ginseng

traceability system architecture, were proposed.

Despite the many concerns and expectations of the practitioner community, the

development and implementation of an RFID-based FTS has been continually delayed.

Through closer examination of the failure of pilot projects, this study has found that the

business process of the food supply chain should be carefully rethought according to

innovative features of RFID technology and the necessity of providing traceability

information during the sales phase. Without mature consideration of BPR, the

development of RFID-based FTSs will only consist of replacing the barcode system and

will not include innovation of the entire food supply chain. The BPR approach and system

architecture based on EPC Global that is described in this paper will help with the

successful development and implementation of an RFID-based FTS for various food

products. In addition, this study extends the theoretical discussion of RFID-based FTSs

for health food like ginseng. Future work should include an effectiveness analysis of the

RFID-based ginseng traceability system with BPR, as well as the development of an

advanced sensor-based distribution management system for ginseng products that has

temperature-sensitive characteristic. This could lead to the development of a more reliable

and safer food supply chain.

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the MSIP (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future

Planning), Korea, under the CITRC (Convergence Information Technology Research

Center) support program (NIPA-2014-H0401-14-1008) supervised by the NIPA (National

IT Industry Promotion Agency)


Vol. 8, No.4 (2015)


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Authors

Yoon-Min Hwang, he is a researcher in Auto-ID Lab Korea

and a PhD candidate in the Department of Business and

Technology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and

Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea. He earned a

BA from Department of Management and Economics at the Han-

Dong Global University, and an MS in the Department of

Management Science at the KAIST, Republic of Korea. His

research interests include industrial innovation by technology

like RFID/WSN, ICT strategy and policy for national

development, and supply chain management.

Junghoon Moon, he is an Associate Professor of the Program

in Regional Information at Seoul National University in Korea.

He received his PhD degree from the State University of New

York at Buffalo in 2006. He worked for several years as a system

analyst and consultant. In addition, he is a member of Auto-ID

labs sponsored by EPC global. His research interests include

information management, e-Marketing, and food business

management. He has published articles in many journals,

including Online Information Review, e-Business Studies,

Journal of Information Technology Management, Information

Systems Frontiers, Scientometrics, Asia Pacific Journal of

Information Management, and Electronic Commerce Research

and Applications.

Sunggoo Yoo, he is a researcher of the program in Regional

Information at Seoul National University. He received his first

BSc computer science and management studies from University

of Nottingham, UK and received second BA Economics from

Seoul National University. His research interests include

information management, healthcare information systems, and

information reliability through online.

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